Fat Old Guy

" Furthermore, since most units lack adequate resources to develop respectable and safe Web sites, a vast majority of unit sites are wrought with safety and liability issues that could become problems for the council were the sites endorsed as officially representative." Considering that our council web site sucks and many, if not most, unit web sites look pretty good, BSA is behind the times. BSA should come up with a set of guidelines: post this info but not that info. No names/names. Etc. In my council, they say don't identify the kids. Makes sense. We are considering putting the troop calendar behind a password just to keep the weird people away. Are you planning on using the web site as a marketing tool for your unit or as a communications tool for the unit. I'd guess the latter. The two are very different.

"They are not concerned about setting an example, just helping scouts earn a lot of badges." Yet another example of how it is all about numbers and not quality.

I don't think that the question ever came up before until this BOR. Everyone knows that mom is the driving force behind his Scouting and someone said, "who packs your stuff?"

Well NJ Dude, I suppose that you only dated girls that you would have married or did you marry the first girl that you dated?

What should the BOR do if a candidate for Life Scout tells the Board that his mom packs his gear for camping? Not that she checks to see that he has everything. No, he comes home from School and his gear is ready and waiting.

"Wow you're good! You assume my unit doesn't follow the methods you listed." Come on Ed, you did once say that you discouraged Patrol activities.

"FOG, and your dating history and motivations (which I really didn't want to know about) are relevant to the actions of a famous segregationist who slept with (and fathered a child with) one of the people he said should not be allowed to associate with "his people," is relevant how, exactly?" You're pretty dense aren't you? The point is that I would "have fun" with many girls that I wouldn't association with on a normal basis. When the crotch is involved, normal rules do not apply.

Big problem is that there are just too many things to do and most of them are sports related. It used to be that you played baseball in the spring, football in the fall, and basketball in winter. Now, soccer and basketball are year round, baseball practice starts in February which plays havoc with basketball. Added into the mix are lacross, roller hockey, BMX, band, youth choir, yada, yada, yada. A kid in Cub Scouts often looks at soccer vs. Scouts and says, "Soccer is funner" because all he does in Scouts is build paper airplanes. Parents of older kids are convinced that sports will be the savior when it comes to college. Cub Scout leaders need to start making Cub Scouting the fun that it is supposed to be. I know many Cub Scout leaders that never have weekend outings. Go to air shows. Go to the police acamdemy. Go watch the Civil War re-enactors. Go fishing. Heck, go camping (family camping of course) and when you go camping don't just play "capture the flag" or frisbee, go tramp about in the woods looking for critters. As Bob White might say, "if the program is fun, the boys will come."

"There is already a leadership component to Cubs. It is the Denner and Assistant Denner!" Does anyone actually implement the Denner position as a leadership position? It would be nice but it's been brought up at Roundtable and no one used their Denners.

Wait until he brings home a US History book that doesn't mention Geo. Washington, Jefferson, or Columbus.

There's something in the water that's causing the problem. When we wuz youn'uns we knew that there were things that were not said around adults just as we knew that there were things that we didn't do around adults. I would have died rather than swear in front of an adult, in fact I still won't swear in front of my parents or my parent's friends. I also don't swear in front of most women (my wife's the exception since she curses like a trooper) unless I just dropped an anvil on my foot. Whatever it is that's in the water has taken away these inhibitions from kids today. I don't know if it is society, schools, TV or what. Fortunately, the scouts in my troop keep it clean around the adults. (This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

Is he Beetle's brother?

"9 to 12 new scouts left because they were not getting the promise of scouting fullfilled at the meetings or activities." Ed, don't you know that anytime a new Scout leaves, it shows that your program is a failure, most likely because you haven't rushed him to 1st Class. It doesn't matter if he prefers sports, hates trees, or has a deep rooted fear of tents. If he leaves, it is the fault of your program because, not only is Scouting for every boy, every boy belongs in Scouting.

Strange, I thought the idea of the "Ubermensch" came from Neitzsche and not Dostoyevsky. Now I have to re-read Neitzsche, Dostoyevsky and G.B. Shaw.

"S'il n'taient pas pour des erreurs d'orthographe (et une conqute normande), vous seriez parlant et crivant vieil anglais. Faites- confiancemoi, il n'est pas une jolie chose." So you advocate allowing people to misspell whatever they want to allow the language to continue to evolve? I really don't think that the spelling drove the evolution of the language since most people didn't write back then.

Oh fish boy, get the name right. It is Fat Old Guy, please note the inital capitals. You know, you still have me in stitches. Ask one of your parents to do a search and read my postings to you. You'll see that I disagree with many BSA policies such as FCFY, NSP, no beatings, etc.. However, I abide by their policies. Well, most of them . . . I don't wear official BSA pants and I make my own square neckerchiefs.

Okay Dave, I'd like to know why you're with this troop when you don't belong to the church and don't particularly care for their brand of Scouting? Do you really think that it will be possible to change the mindset of the CO and the committee? Could you convince the church to allow 11 year olds to join the troop and particpate in the other program? Would you be happier in another troop? I didn't see if you said that you have a son in the Troop. If you do, is he being served by the program? Is he happy?

"What the heck is pablum? Is it like Marmite?" Pablum (a brand name) is a yucky, bland cereal for babies. I looked up Marmite on the web and it sounds like Vegemite. (No, I don't come from a land down under, where the beer does flow and men chunder).

" does anyone have any information about the Boulder Dam Council headquartered in Las Vegas, NV?" Going there would be a gamble. (duck and run)

If you look at the Eagle Required merit badges, they are some pretty serious subjects. Important things to be good citizens and good people. We have a few, maybe more than a few, parents who are pushing their kids in the "Eagle before 14" program. The kids are all either in their first or second year and already have fifteen merit badges and have nailed most of the Eagle Required ones. One would think that a Scout who has completed the Citizenship trio would have a reasonable grasp of the government, what a country is, etc.. However, this doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe this is really an indictment of the education system because I've observed this problem in both fast track Scouts who have the Citizenship tro and slow track Scouts who don't but it is somewhat more disturbing for a Scout who has completed Citzenship in the Nation to not know the difference between a state and a city. "Huh?" you say. I BS with the Scouts when we're driving somewhere. We talk about vacations, other trips, movies, rock&roll, why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings. I continually hear statements like, "You know, Philadelphia is a really nice state." "Actually, young fellow, Philadelphia is a city." "Oh, what's the difference?" These are 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. What are they teaching these kids in school? Many have no idea that Canada is to the north of US or that Africa is a continent. It doesn't help when the teachers are idiots. Not long ago, my daughter was working on her Social Studies homework and asked, "Where's Cape Horn?" I gave my standard answer, "look it up." A few minutes later she comes up with her atlas, shows me the map of Africa and says, "I can't find it." Next question is, "Why are you looking at a map of Africa" "Because that's what we're studying" and she shows me her homework which is a map of Africa with a list of features that she is to locate on the map. Sure 'nuff, it says "Cape Horn" in that list. The teacher's response when ten kids say, "Cape Horn's not in Africa"? Ready? "You should have known what I meant." Anyway, back to the original question. How does one earn the citizenship trio without understanding the difference between a city, state, and country? I know that explaining the differences aren't required for the three badges but you'd think that they'd pick it up along the way.

"Girls are much better at relationships" Relationships, the bane of every man's existence. I love this piece by Dave Barry http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~odyssey/Quotes/Modern_World/Dbr.html

Oh for the good old days when you couldn't join Boy Scouts before your 11th birtday.

(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

I'll do a BW and say, "what I meant and that everyone should have known is . . ." I know my homophones, I have problems with people that don't know the difference. As a Scouter, should I even admit that I have seen a homophone?

I don't know about that. I dated many girls that I didn't want to marry. Heck, I know I dated some girls that I really wouldn't want my mother to meet. Why'd I go out with them? It was fun. Both parties knew that the attraction was physical.